SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Right! Not the greatest match yesterday but certainly a major improvement over Tuesday's drab draw between Chelsea and the other Madrid side. Real Madrid won at home by a goal to nil to set up what should be a juicy return leg in Munich next Tuesday. Here's your lot:

Crystal Palace. The South London club that was left for dead back in the fall whilst languishing at the bottom of the league has somehow been guided to safety. By Tony Pubis, of all people. After Brendan Rodgers, you'd have to rank him as Manager of the Year. Dominic Fifield has a piece on the Palace revival.

The loan system. It's a mess, right? Chelsea have 26 players out on loan. Lukaku has enjoyed a fine season at Everton. Victor Moses looks set to win a Champions medal. And yet Jose claims he doesn't have any good strikers. And he'll field a weakened team this weekend against Liverpool, by the way.

There were more protests in Brazil on Tuesday. One person died during violent protests in Rio near Copacabana beach. A dancer allegedly killed by police sparked the protests. Ugly, ugly, ugly. FIFA should get Brazil to crack down on this sort of thing. Oh. Wait.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Welcome to another Hump Day, folks. The big item on the agenda is the second Champions League semi-final first-leg featuring the defending champions Bayern Munich and Los Blancos de Madrid. But first, we should examine yesterday's match. You want a quick summary? Chelsea parked the bus and nobody scored. You want more? Here:

Oh, gosh. Everyone is still going nuts over the Moyes sacking. Marina Hyde claims that the sorry saga of David Moyes won't shake Sir Alex Ferguson's self-belief. Barney Ronay reckons the appointment of Moyes was a big mistake. Simon Kuper says Manchester United’s biggest problem is not selecting next manager. Russell Brand (!?) is also talking about it in his typically humorous manner. How's this for a sentence: Sir Alex Ferguson's selection of the "chosen one" now looks less like John the Baptist heralding Christ and more like what I would do if invited to select my ex's next partner; the mendacious dispatch of a castrated chump to grimly jiggle with futile pumps upon Man United's bone-dry, trophy-bare mound. ?

So, today we move across the city from the Vicente Calderón to the Santiago Bernabéu to enjoy Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich. Sadly, Gareth Bale probably won't play. He has the flu. And we'll have to wait and see about Ronny. Check it:

Burnley will be back amongst the big boys next season. They joined Leicester City yesterday as the second Championship side to earn automatic promotion to the Premier League. How did they do it? Strong work ethic. 4-4-2 design. Ginger Mourinho.

The Champions! It all goes down this afternoon in Madrid at The Vicente Calderón. Fernando Torres has returned (to a warm reception, we're told) to the ground where he made his reputation as one of the greatest strikers in the world. It's the Champions League semi-final first leg between Atlético Madrid and Chelsea and it's on Fox Sports I at 2:45pm EDT. The Blues are coming off their shocking loss at home to Sunderland. How shall they respond? Here's all you need to know:

Tuesday means it's time to go in deep with some analyses of what went down over the weekend. Like Wide World of Sports, we'll span the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition...